It’s safe to say pretty much everyone would love to have straighter teeth and a more attractive smile. Not only do straight teeth make you feel more confident about your appearance, but they also make it a lot easier to care for your teeth. How? Straighter teeth are easier to floss and brush, and there are fewer places for food particles and harmful bacteria to hide. That means your risks of gum disease and tooth decay can be significantly decreased when your teeth are straight and properly aligned.
It’s also pretty safe to say no one looks forward to years of wearing braces. Traditional braces can certainly correct poor alignment and give you more attractive, straighter teeth, but wearing them for years — well, it’s enough to make plenty of people hesitate about getting treatment, even though it can have long-term benefits for their oral health. At MJM Family & Cosmetic Dentistry, we offer an alternative: It’s called Fastbraces®, and in recent years, it’s become a super-popular alternative to traditional braces for lots of reasons. Here are five you should know about if you’re thinking about having your teeth straightened.
1. Fastbraces are, well, fast
The Fastbraces system uses a special orthodontic wire made of durable, flexible nickel-titanium. The wire is designed to be super-elastic, exerting continual pressure on your teeth to keep them moving — gently — into proper alignment. With traditional orthodontics, you need to have your wires changed on a regular basis. But with Fastbraces, the same wire is used throughout your entire treatment. The wire is designed to be continually dynamic, which means it’s always working to move your teeth all the way down to their roots. The warmth of your mouth helps keep the wire “active,” so your braces are always working toward your treatment goal. As a result of these advances in technology and dynamics, most patients can complete their treatment in under a year, and many patients can finish their course of treatment in just a few months.
2. Treatment is more comfortable
Because the Fastbraces wire system exerts continual pressure on your teeth, those forces can be a lot gentler than traditional braces, without losing their effectiveness. Less force means less strain on your teeth and tooth roots, and that means your treatment can be a lot more comfortable. Plus, while traditional braces require monthly adjustments and tightenings, followed by a painful adjustment period as your teeth respond, the Fastbraces wire is always working to gently move your teeth, so you won’t have those painful post-visit side effects. And, of course, since treatment with Fastbraces is a lot faster than traditional orthodontic treatment, any minor discomfort you might experience will be of a much shorter duration.
3. They’re effective (and safe) for lots of alignment problems
In addition to their unique wires, Fastbraces uses a special bracket design for faster treatment without increased risks. Fastbraces brackets are triangular instead of square or rectangular, and they use a proprietary elbow design combined with an elevated “slot.” Taken together, these design elements increase the distance between each individual bracket, which in turn increases the flexibility of the wire that connects the brackets. All these benefits combine to allow Fastbraces to work more quickly, moving the roots of the teeth right from the start of treatment instead of waiting a year as with traditional braces.
4. They’re affordable
A big part of the cost of orthodontic care relates to the number of office visits you need to have — and the number of adjustments that need to occur during treatment. Since Fastbraces treatment can be completed in a fraction of the time — and with no constant adjustment visits — your treatment can be surprisingly affordable.
5. You won’t need to spend years wearing a retainer
Since Fastbraces realigns your tooth roots as well as the crowns (the visible parts of your teeth), you only need to wear a retainer for a brief period of time — about 15 to 20 minutes a day or overnight. After a year or so, most patients only need to wear their retainer for a few minutes a day.
Don’t let crooked teeth ruin your self-confidence. To learn how Fastbraces can help you get straighter teeth and a more beautiful smile, book an appointment online today.
